Both are putting the finishing touches on their training with huge fights on tap — Rodriguez in the semifinals of the “Monte Carlo Million Dollar Super Four” in Monaco, and Minor in the USA Boxing National Championships in Spokane, Wash.

The 27-year-old Rodriguez and his entourage — manager Larry Army Jr. and trainer Ronnie Shields — left on Saturday for the lavish resort nestled on the French Riviera, some 3,800 miles away. Rodriguez and Shields departed from their training headquarters in Houston, and Army left from Boston.

They all converged in Nice, France, and were chauffeured the final 15 miles or so to Monte Carlo. That will give them plenty of time to get acclimated to the climate and time zone — five hours ahead — before Rodriguez (22-0, 15 knockouts) takes on Argentina's Ezequiel Maderna (19-0, 13 KOs) on Saturday night at the Chapiteau de Fontvieille.

Cut man Dave Tenny will leave Thursday from New York.

Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Minor and his manager, Kendrick Ball, will leave on Saturday for the more subdued Spokane, where they begin their quest for a national title a week from Monday, April 1. The final is on Saturday, April 6.

Rodriguez fans who aren't planning to make the pricey trip to Monte Carlo — and I suspect that's most of them — will be able to catch Saturday's card on pay-per-view for $24.95. Contact your local cable or satellite provider for details. It will be available to FIOS, Verizon, DISH, Charter, Comcast, DirecTV, Avail-TVN and iN Demand customers.

The telecast starts at 3 p.m. EDT Saturday — which is 8 p.m. in Monte Carlo — with the first semifinal between light heavyweights Zsolt Erdei (33-0, 18) and Denis Grachev (12-1-1, 8). The Rodriguez-Maderna bout will follow at about 4:30 EDT. Both are 10-rounders. Army is hoping to have the order switched so his team can watch the Erdei-Grachev bout live afterward.

The winners will clash at a catchweight of 171-1/2 pounds in a $1 million final on July 13 in Monaco, with 60 percent of the purse going to winner.

Rodriguez appears to be ready.

“Speaking to Ronnie (Shields) this week about the game plan,” Army said last week, “he feels he has the perfect game plan for this fight. It plays to Edwin's strengths and to Maderna's weaknesses. From all accounts, this was his best camp ever. He looks as strong as he's ever looked.”

Shields, who took over as Rodriguez's trainer four fights and two years ago, agreed.

“As Edwin matures, the better he gets in the ring. He's seen all styles of sparring and everything has come together for him. There is no style he hasn't mastered. Without a doubt, Edwin is a complete fighter.”

Before he left, Army said that promoter Lou DiBella confirmed that if Rodriguez wins, he'll get the No. 2 ranking in the IBF behind top-ranked Adonis Stevenson. “La Bomba” is currently ranked No. 3 by all three major sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, IBF).

The significance of the No. 2 spot is that if Stevenson moves up in weight to fight WBC light heavyweight champ Chad Dawson — a bout currently being negotiated — that would disqualify him from being the mandatory challenger after Carl Froch defends his IBF title against Mikkel Kessler on May 25 in London. “La Bomba” would be next in line.

Stevenson (20-1, 17 KOs) avenged his only loss by knocking out Darnell Boone in the sixth round on Friday night in Montreal. Boone had scored a second-round TKO of Stevenson in April 2010, five months after losing a unanimous decision to Rodriguez.

Froch called Army recently to ask for Rodriguez's phone number. Froch said he was impressed with the big spread in Ring magazine about Rodriguez and his prematurely born 6-year-old twins, and wanted to wish the fighter good luck in Monte Carlo.

Maderna is also in Monte Carlo, but before he left he called the fight against Rodriguez “the most important challenge of my life,” adding: “I will be ready for a war against Edwin Rodriguez.”

If Rodriguez wins on Saturday, he will tie Josť Antonio Rivera's record of 23-0 for the most victories by a Worcester fighter to start a career (see chart). If Rodriguez also wins the final in July, he will break Rivera's mark.

A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday in Monte Carlo in advance of the tournament, with open workouts on Wednesday and the weigh-in on Friday.

An interesting side note: Rodriguez's wife, Stephanie, is due to give birth to the couple's third child — a son — on April 6. That means “La Bomba” probably will make it back to Worcester just in time for the big event.

Assuming Stephanie doesn't rush things this time.

Minor camp confident

This is the first of two national title quests in six weeks for Minor, who made it to the semifinals of the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions last year before losing to the eventual champion. He lost in the second round last year at the USA Boxing nationals. The trip is paid for by USA Boxing New England, which is sending four boxers and two coaches — Ball and Alex Rivera of Somerville. If he keeps winning, Minor is expected to have five fights in six days.

“We're definitely ready,” Ball said confidently the other day from his gym, Camp Get Right, on Millbrook Street. “We've done more work than we did the last time. We're here to win a national title. This is our year. Hands down, we're winning this.”

Ball said he has gotten Minor to buy fully into his strategies this time, admitting his fighter can sometimes be “a little hard-headed.”

“I felt that last year in the tournament, the first three fights we fought my fight,” Ball added. “That fourth fight, he kind of went back to his old ways a little bit and did things I didn't want him to do, really not paying attention in the corner like he should have.

“Now, we're on this page where he trusts in me enough to know that what I tell him, if we do this, we'll win this title.”

Minor has a couple of disadvantages in big events like this. At 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, he's smaller than a lot of super heavyweights, who stand 6-5 or 6-7 and can weigh up to 270.

The former Holy Name High athlete also began boxing only three years ago — at the “Give Kids a Fighting Chance” benefit in 2010 — while most of his opponents have 90 or 100 amateur fights.

“Before, he had only 12, 13, 14, 15 fights,” Ball said, “but now he has something like thirty-something fights. Now we've got a little more experience, so there's no way we're taking a step back. We're going forward.”

Win or lose in the USA Boxing event, Minor will take part in the National Golden Gloves from May 13-18 in Salt Lake City, Ball said.

After that, he might turn pro, but Ball noted that if Minor wins either national title, he also could tour the world with the USA Boxing team, and it would be hard to turn down that sort of opportunity.

Lowell's “Irish” Joey McCreedy (14-6-2, 6 KOs) celebrated St. Patrick's Day by winning the UBF US-Northeast light heavyweight title with an eight-round majority decision over Canadian Michael Walchuk last Saturday night at Tsongas Center at UMass-Lowell. McCreedy was cut over the eye in the second round.

On April 20, Showtime Championship Boxing will show the world super welterweight title unification bout between WBC champ Canelo Alvarez and WBA king Austin “No Doubt” Trout from the Alamodome in San Antonio. The telecast starts at 10 p.m.